[clarionreef]

Hello Manhattan reefers!
Wow!
Thanks so much for the vote of confidence and the kick off donation drive!
We have been in Papua New Guinea for 6 months now surveying the reefs and have finished the initial report to the National Fisheries Authority of the government of Paua New Guinea.
As a result, we were just funded for the training mission and all systems are go!
We will hit the ground running Jan 15th .
I need to get enough netting material for a few hundred divers and send get it to Port Moresby by mid January.
Whatever you may have heard about reform , MAC, IMA, net training etc before....bear in mind that this time professional, career fish people are in charge of the project design, the terms, the strategy, the training and initial industry development.
We are not what has gone before. We are not MAC.
We are something else entirely.
For starters....the open door policy, the accessibility, the openness, the transparency, the deep experience, the seasoned training team and the bottom up, field oriented methodology is refreshing and exciting to be a part of.
New Guinea will be what the Philippines and Indonesia can not be anytime soon...100% NETCAUGHT ...and patterned after the Australian model...
This is the beginning.
The Philippines had one in 1960....
Indo in 1978...
Now its our turn...PNG...2008!
If you have a hundred questions...fire away.
Sincerely, Steve Robinson
Eco EZ Inc program
National Fishery Authority
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

[ellebelle]

That all sounds really amazing and well put together. More questions from the curious - Do you have a funding agency in the US? What went wrong in the Indonesian and Philippines model, and how have you addressed that for this project? And what kind of precautions will be put in place to prevent over-fishing?

[jhale]

Steve welcome to Manhattan Reefs , I sent you a message through the site.

[ellebelle]

PS: as I always like to educate myself about issues, I've been searching for other articles about these problems. Lots of literature out there (and a few peer reviewed articles mentioning Steve here! ).

Here are a couple of interesting sources that I found that can be accessed by the general public without access from a university/medical library:
http://www.spc.int/coastfish/News/lrf/5/LRF5.pdf
http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/members/...ngtSE_Asia.pdf

[clarionreef]

Marine Ornamentals 2006 - Meeting Abstract
18

TRAINING MARINEFISH COLLECTORS AS IF RESULTS MATTERED

Steve Robinson
Director, American Marine Dealers Association27217 Portsmouth Ave
Hayward, CA 94545
clarionreef@aol.com



Collectors and dealers in marine ornamentals take many years to learn the secrets and tricks of the trade. Procedures for collecting and handling fishes cannot be taken lightly and glossed over. If the trade is partly responsible for the crisis on the reefs, how can slow-motion results be acceptable? How can businesses be expected to support training programs that have spent so much and produced so little? I submit that fish collectors can be converted to sustainable collection methods much quicker and cheaper, than what we have been conditioned to believe.

1. Phase one: Net training and handling must come first.
Fish collectors are at the forefront of the chain of custody and the issues related to impacts on coral reefs. Therefore, alternatives to destructive fishing need to be frontloaded. The skills transfer needed to get them away from killing coral reefs are not difficult. They become ineffective, if burdened by too much paperwork, complex underwater surveys, and certification schemes. To lead with them has alienated and discouraged the divers! Skills transfer for collecting must be separated from the other aspects. It might make sense to kill two birds with one stone...but the actual effect has been to scare away the birds.
2. Phase two: Training must be commercially competent.
Fishermen may seem less aware by our standards, but they can spot non-commercial behavior a mile away. It becomes easier, if collectors are first impressed with the trainers ability to train by virtue of his abilities. Trainings conducted by amateurs....with inadequate materials do not work very well. Collectors trained by commercial experts can work well. When divers were needed in Mexico, Tonga or Vanuatu, they were trained by those who could dive, collect, handle, and produce superior results. This garnered respect from the collectors allowing for rapid-fire results
Past NGO-sponsored trainings have not provided the right hand-net and barrier-net materials. Many divers in both the Philippines and Indonesia, who participated in net-training sessions, never received any netting. The correct netting is absolutely essential, if fishers are to be successfully converted away from cyanide fishing. The failure to supply the requisite nets has handicapped training programs and discredited them in the eyes of the fishermen.
Phase three: Cost and Time Efficiency
Training fisherman for sustainable practices should be both cost and time efficient. With commercial training... cost efficiency is critical. A commercial mindset on these matters is important as it gels with the fishermans view of things. Dealers, like collectors, live by the imperatives of cost and time efficiencies, better fish, and cash flow. Learning to mesh these imperatives with other priorities will allow better results for everyone. The coral reefs will finally get the lighter touch they need. Afterall, if its not a sustainable proposition, what is it? No one makes a living, profit, or a career off of a dead coral reef.
Guys,
If you google my name + cyanide or + NET TRAINING...you'll see plenty of history.
But....for years, several eco-NGOs made a business out of the issue and cut me out of it to keep the gravy train going. They blew it in the Philippines and Indonesia and effectively sent divers back to cyanide fishing for lack of ability to train them. They didn't even provide the right netting material.
They eventually failed, lost their funding and now we get our chance again.
Steve

[Tim]

I`m in for a $100 let`s get this going.....

[carpediem212]

This is a very honorable cause and hope that this money really go towards and is utilized for education of collecting. I would like to see a video of what Steve trains.


Count me in for $100

[GreshamH]

Quote: Originally Posted by ellebelle That all sounds really amazing and well put together. More questions from the curious - Do you have a funding agency in the US? What went wrong in the Indonesian and Philippines model, and how have you addressed that for this project? And what kind of precautions will be put in place to prevent over-fishing?

In regards to the PI/Indo project (MAC/IMA/etc, etc) all that can be found in Reefs.org's Industry Behind The Hobby. This very topic has been talked in depth for the last 8 years there Being the director of this project saw first hand the mistakes made, he won't repeat them that's for sure

Briefly, quotas are set to local counts derived from transect data.

FWIW, no NO FARMED coral will be leaving the country. 100% farmed coral export only.

[GreshamH]

Quote: Originally Posted by clarionreef Hello Manhattan reefers! Wow! Thanks so much for the vote of confidence and the kick off donation drive! We have been in Papua New Guinea for 6 months now surveying the reefs and have finished the initial report to the National Fisheries Authority of the government of Paua New Guinea. As a result, we were just funded for the training mission and all systems are go! We will hit the ground running Jan 15th . I need to get enough netting material for a few hundred divers and send get it to Port Moresby by mid January. Whatever you may have heard about reform , MAC, IMA, net training etc before....bear in mind that this time professional, career fish people are in charge of the project design, the terms, the strategy, the training and initial industry development. We are not what has gone before. We are not MAC. We are something else entirely. For starters....the open door policy, the accessibility, the openness, the transparency, the deep experience, the seasoned training team and the bottom up, field oriented methodology is refreshing and exciting to be a part of. New Guinea will be what the Philippines and Indonesia can not be anytime soon...100% NETCAUGHT ...and patterned after the Australian model... This is the beginning. The Philippines had one in 1960.... Indo in 1978... Now its our turn...PNG...2008! If you have a hundred questions...fire away. Sincerely, Steve Robinson Eco EZ Inc program National Fishery Authority Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

Glad you could make it here Steve You'll fin the crowd here at a different level then most online forums your used to, that's for sure.

[GreshamH]

Quote: Originally Posted by bad coffee $100 from me. Let me know where/when. B

Tomorrow - take the 101 south to the 92East. Cross over the San Mateo Bridge, pass by SF Bay Brands and take the second exit. Steve will meet you by the soda plant right at the exit

Seriously though, why not come over and talk to Steve yourself I could meet up with both of you and do lunch maybe Friday if you have the time